


Kerberos

by 999ft



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Spoiler: Shiro doesn't die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:54:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22910578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/999ft/pseuds/999ft
Summary: The Kerberos mission is cursed."I don't think we'll be seeing aliens anytime soon." Shiro chuckles. He guides Matt back to the ship with a hand on his back. Listening to Matt ramble on about alien life nonsense. Shiro figured alien life is just to far fetched. After that everything's a fog.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 4





	Kerberos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Inspired by the Betty and Barney Hill incident.)

"Easy son. The ice is delicate." Sam said, guiding Matt through the process of picking up the ice. Matt's hand trembled as he carefully tried his best to move it slowly towards the container.

"Isn't this exciting Shiro? You guys get a little more excited about ice samples more than I do." Matt says breathing heavily. Shiro nods as he starts using the machine to dig into the moons crust. "This is history in the making. Not only have we traveled farther than any human has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues about the existence of life outside Earth!" Sam grabs the container of ice out of Matt's hands, giving Matt room to flail his arms. "Think of it dad. We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens. My life's work would be complete."

"Alright..I think that's all we need." Sam says. Shoving the last piece of ice into the container.

"I don't think we'll be seeing aliens anytime soon." Shiro chuckles. He guides Matt back to the ship with a hand on his back. Listening to Matt ramble on about alien life nonsense. Shiro figured alien life is just to far fetched. After that everything's a fog.

Once Keith heard that Shiro's mission ended up being successful, he couldn't contain his excitement. He waited for Shiro's ship to land back down, as well as other people. Including a young girl waiting for her brother and father. 

As the ship came down, the wind blew in Keith's face. He had a big smile on his face waiting for Shiro to come out. Iverson meeted up with Shiro at the entrance of the ship. As the smoke cleared from the rocket fuel, Keith could finally see Shiro through the dust. He looked tired, it made sense. Three months of traveling through space could do that too you. His hair also looked white? It didn't matter though. Keith yelled out Shiro's name running to hug him. 

Keith's arms wrapped tightly around Shiro's body, it felt like he lost a little weight. Keith didn't feel Shiro's arms wrap back around him. Keith looked up at Shiro confused. "Shiro, it's me Keith!" 

Shiro's eyes bounced around his head, as if he was observing his surrounding. Iverson slid his hand between Keith and Shiro cutting Keith off of Shiro. "Give him space-er room cadet." Keith rolled his eyes. "Where's Sam and Matt?" Iverson whispers in Shiro's ear. 

Shiro looks down at his feet in defeat. "Shiro." Iverson asks again, a little stern this time. "Where's Sam and Matt?" Shiro is yet to answer. Iverson shakes his head in disappointment. 

The little girl walks up to Iverson and Shiro smiling. The look on her face looks like she's hiding something, concern. Iverson leans down on his knee, reaching the girls height. From Keith's point of view, he can see the girl starting to shake, and scream and cry. Keith frowns as she starts to yell at Shiro. She makes a fist attempting to punch Shiro, but Iverson holds her back. Keith runs up to protect Shiro anyways.

"Back off!" He yells at her, standing in front of Shiro. Her face is red, as she screams out "No." frantically. The young girl finally stops throwing a fit and collapses onto her knees. Sobbing into her hands, Iverson rubs her back trying his best to be comfort.

Keith grabs Shiro's hand and leads him out of the dramatic scene. "Shiro are you okay?" He asks gripping Shiro's hand tightly. "Shiro what happened!? Come on you can talk to me." Keith's voice starts to crack. Shiro looks so lifeless. Like maybe something happened out there during those three months. "Imma, I'm going to go now. I'm going to contact Adam." Keith says. "Stay here please?" Shiro doesn't nod or say anything. Nothing on his face even says "Okay." His head just drops between his legs. 

~A few months later~

Keith's allowed Shiro to live in his cramped cabin with him. The first time Shiro's been back in there, he acted as if he didn't know where he was. He kept knocking things over, tripping over stuff, he didn't even know how to open a door. Sooner or later Keith finally felt assured that the real Shiro was finally coming back. 

Keith decided to leave the Garrison after Shiro's possible PTSD, and take Shiro with him. Adam tried getting to Shiro, but that didn't work either. Seems like all they need was just time. Time for Shiro to adjust. Keith cooked a pot of mushroom soup, and poured it into a bowl. 

Shiro was laying down on the concrete couch staring out through the dusty window. Keith feels like Shiro blames himself for loosing Sam and Matt. Which Shiro never really told anyone how Matt and Sam disappeared. Keith assumes they must've gotten sucked out into space. 

Keith sits at the edge of the 'couch' and hands Shiro his bowl. "Careful it's hot." Shiro slightly leans up and grabs the bowl resting it into his lap. After he eats Shiro goes back to laying down staring outside the window. 

"What's that?" Shiro asks softly pointing at the board starting becoming filled with images and embroidery floss connecting from dot to dot. which startled Keith. Keith swore that if the desert wasn't so silent he wouldn't have heard Shiro. Keith swallows deeply, trying his best not to freak out at the fact that Shiro finally said something. Shiro does talk, his vocabulary mostly consists of "Thank you." "Yes please." and "No thanks." 

"I found this weird energy signal while I was out in the desert. However I can't seem to find it." Keith says pointing his fingers on the map. Shiro frowns but not in an angry way, he gets up from the couch walking towards Keith.

Keith can really see how tall Shiro is from him. Since Shiro mostly sets on the couch all day. It nearly scares Keith as Shiro towers over him. "What kind of energy?" 

"Not sure..." Keith says moving aside so Shiro can get a clear view. Shiro sets a hand on the map. "You can come and help me look for it if you want? Whatever it is it's causing a disruption in the servers. Shiro looks down, and Keith suddenly regrets his question. "I-I mean um. If you want too." 

"I do." Shiro responds. 

Shiro's never really been outside. He normally likes to set outside when the sunsets. When it's far much cooler. As Shiro steps out of the cabin he immediately winces from the heat already scorching his skin. Keith throws him a bottle of sunscreen at Shiro. Shiro lets it hit his chest before watching it fall towards the ground. "S-sorry." He stutters leaning down to pick it up between the hot sand. 

"It's fine." Keith sighed. "Okay, let's go." 

"You don't need a map?" Shiro asks.

Why is he talking so much all of a sudden. Keith swallows down asking that question and turns to look at Shiro. "I know the desert well enough."

Shiro makes a low hums lowly. "There's no trees, or houses, and the wind creates new sand dunes every week." 'Smart observation'. Keith thinks. That's probably what Shiro does every time he stares out the window. "Maybe you can't find the energy source because of that." 

Keith's head cocks to the side. He felt almost offended. "Well, then do you know the way?" Keith asks, not in a rude way, but the look on Shiro's face looks almost hurt. 

"That's why I'm following you." Shiro says lowly. 

After that Shiro stays silent, other than his heavy breathing. Keith feels obliged to say something to make Shiro feel comfortable, or to take his mind off the heat. His cheeks are red, and his shirt is soaked with sweat. "Do you want to borrow my flask?" Keith asks. 

Shiro nods lazily letting out a small 'uh huh'. As Keith hands it towards him and Shiro chugs it down like nothing. It reminds Keith, how they use to go out into the desert all the time. How Keith would practically be the one having a heat stroke, but the roles reversed. That also reminds Keith. 

"Hey...Shiro.." Keith asked. "Whatever happened to your disease?" 

"I guess space cured it." Shiro says blandly. Normally jokes like that would make him chuckle. It sounded like he was being serious.

"Did the doct-"

"I don't want to talk about _that_ if you don't mind." Shiro interrupts. 

Keith swallows hard. There are some nights where Keith wishes Shiro didn't go to Kerberos. He feels like Adam must've had his third eye open to know that Shiro shouldn't go to Kerberos. Even if it was because of his disease. There are some nights where Keith cries about it, he doesn't know if Shiro's really okay or not. He feels selfish for almost wanting the old Shiro back, the one that comforted him, the one that understood him. Keith was definitely do the same for Shiro, he would sacrifice himself for Shiro even. He would sell his soul if it could just make Shiro happier again. "We're going far out into the desert, I want to make it back home before a mild sandstorm comes in." Keith says holding a hand up to cover his eyes as the sun sets. "Whoa." Keith whispers. 

Shiro doesn't say anything, but he walks up to Keith with a questioning look. "Those mountains." Keith points. "I never noticed this before but...They look like the sound waves I found off of this random recording sent into my servers." 

'Recording.' Shiro thought. Keith never told him about any recordings. "What recordings?" 

"Doesn't matter, I couldn't decipher it anyways." Keith said. "I wonder why I never noticed that." Keith mumbles looking at the map. He pulls out his compass and walks towards the mountains. Despite being miles away from Keith his compass started flipping out. The needle turned onto all different directions. At this point the more he got closer the more it just span clockwise. Keith bites his lip stepping away from the mountains, yet the compass stilled moved slowly. 

"Huh, the energy coming from the mountains is super strong. No wonder I get tons of interference." Keith guesses.

"Do you think you know what it is?" 

Keith huffs. "I don't think I want to know." But he will figure it out, his curiosity will eventually get the best of him. "You want to head back?" 

"I-I guess." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...What do you think happened to Shiro? Next chapter will focus on the Garrison Trio.


End file.
